She nosed her way around the stacks, which stood like pallisades along the coast, grim sentinels of mountains once standing. She cared not for their antiquity, nor their weathered faces -- they served as landmarks, and some as stations of worship -- but most of all, they served as a veritable smorgasbord of edible lifeforms during low tide. Their sides were often laden with all sorts of mollusks -- and occasionally, large whelks crawled at glacial pace along their tall summits.
Caiaphas picked one such stack where there seemed to be shrimp rife in the kelp -- they bleakly scattered as her shadow crossed the small tide-pool. Unluckily for them, the low tide had stranded them in a small and temporary puddle of brine, and hungrily, Caiaphas decked the surface with a splash of her paw -- watching with delight as they scattered like struck sea-sheep.
We could forward-date this to present day if you feel more comfortable that way, I can edit my post so that it matches :)
Things were starting to get better for the Nereides. Their claim had only been hours ago, and the Adept already felt a sense of belonging to the recently discovered territory. Every inch of their new home was beautiful, and intriguing, it seemed like it had been standing there for ages, waiting for Akatie and her assemble to claim it as theirs.
Aella, the crimson amazon, was a Warden by nature, as well as a Warrior by choice, so from the moment she arrived to the sound, she had put herself in the task of recognizing the lands, because according to her instincts and her life-long training, there's no better way to secure a land than to recognize every tree, every stone, every inch within it. The cliffs were the biggest attractive so far, standing tall around the beach, protecting the small piece of shore that was their treasure, and the gigantic forest that guarded their southern borders with the titanic sentinels that rose up in the skies were amazing as well. But there was a problem there, the beach was so well guarded that the way down was either non-existent, or it was so well hidden and so treacherous that only the best trekkers would be able to get through it.
"How did you get down there!?" she howled at the dark coywolf who stood in the beach, several meters below her. She had been watching her for a while, but she hadn't yet found a way to come down to the beach. Aella wasn't a wolf to hold a grudge over an argument as the one she had with Caiaphas not so long ago, she knew she had put the neophyte in an awkward position and she understood she was only following her instincts, and to be honest, Aella was rash and hot-tempered.
Caiaphas leaned in and with a dash of her wicked muzzle scraped her jaws through the water like a crocodile -- her teeth closing around choice few of the darting shrimp. Before she could swallow she heard a familiar voice -- she looked up with a wolfish gulp, feeling the struggling shrimp slide down her cavernous gullet.
If she recognized Aella as wolf she had confronted a few weeks prior, she certainly did not show it. Her narrow muzzle pointed in the direction of a few receding cliffs where a small tunnel forded through the slabs and into the mouth of the channel. She lifted a forepaw languidly in that direction, her gaze watching as Aella's eyes likely followed the line of her direction. It would take her a few minutes to join Caiaphas -- and as soon as the wolf (likely) disappeared from vision, Caiaphas would go back to torturing her small prey.
"how does a man decide in what order to abandon his life?"
The neophyte was toying with some kind of sea creature in the beach, and when the sound of the Amazon's voice reached her, she turned to her and pointed her in the direction of a small tunnel that seemedd the only way to get down to the beach, and regardless of their previous encounter, the coywolf didn't seem to show any kind of resentment towards Aella.
The Adept took her time to follow the way to the beach, the cliffs through which she had to go were still pretty steep, but gentle enough for a wolf to come down without major issue. It took a while, but she finally landed in the soft sand of the sound, and with a deep breath with which she inhaled the salty scent of the ocean into her lungs, she moved then towards the neophyte, who was still torturing her catch.
"What you got there?" Aella asked with an easy voice, tilting her head to the right. Now that their hierarchy had been established and that they all knew their places in the pack, Aella instinctively held her tail above the dark coywolf, but she tried to be as neutral as possible, meaning to make their previously tense relationship a bit cooler.
Smoothly, much in the manner of a stoat or a snake, Caiaphas slid from the puddle-- a dripping and sopping poltroon whose water trickled down into the sand and stained it a dark, umber color. It was not her place to defy Aella -- and while she recalled with great ire and resentment their first meeting, there was no trace of it in her mein or manner. Aella bested her in many ways, and this made Caiaphas furious. She was far more sleek, athletic, attractive -- and perhaps, most ironically of all, far more wholesome -- and this ignited an insufferable rage in the coywolf. Still, however she felt she forced herself to handle her interaction with the superior female in the most placating of manners. It was a game now, for Caiaphas -- to propitiate and dulcify this female until it no longer amused her.
"Shrimp." She replied airily, the monosyllablic utterance twinged with honey. She could not promise she had not eaten all that was in there -- but if Aella wished for some, Caiaphas would not stop her.
"how does a man decide in what order to abandon his life?"
Oh so the cur did hold a grudge on her? Then things were far from being ok between the two ladies. Aella wasn't one to be toyed with, and she knew how to recognize those cynical smirks when she saw them, so she returned it, a grin probably more caustic that Caiaphas' own, accompanied by a mordant look of her pretty golden eyes right upon the hybrid's.
"May I?" she asked batting her eyelashes, and without minding any answer, the Amazon walked directly to the shrimp, almost pushing the subordinate with her curvaceous hips. Hell she was hotter than Caiaphas, in fact, she was the hottest around, at least in her opinion, and she loved to use her in her advantage.
She stepped nimbly aside as Aella bullrushed past her -- still retaining her expertly instilled neutrality. She swished only her tail -- a gesture that explicitly stated Aella may do as she pleased.
The shrimp were long forgotten at this point. Caiaphas had not ate her fill, but she was used to hunger -- it formed her figure and consumed her on most days. "Timsel." She uttered quietly, an acquiescence in a long forgotten tone. She had disarmingly stepped back at this point, and sat in the sand a derelict and heathen. Her mangy fur sopping and her posture an irreverent slouch. It was not her place to defy Aella -- not yet -- and coolly she kept her composure.
"how does a man decide in what order to abandon his life?"
Aella was a show off since birth. She boasted, she blustered, she bragged, but most of all she envied. There was something within her that made her want to be on top, to be in the center of attention, and when someone gave it to her, no matter how little, she wore it as a trophy.
Caiaphas had Akatie's trust now, even though the now-matriarch had known her way longer than the neophyte, and knowing it felt like a dagger deep in her chest. She wasn't completely sure why she wanted to have Akatie's trust whatsoever, but she wanted it, and she hated the fact that in a matter of days she had been surpassed by a half-coyote.
Aella intentionally ignored the neophyte in the background, and hoarded the shrimp, moaning as if it was the most delightful manjar in the seven seas; and when she was done she lifted her head and turned to the stoop female and licked her lips delicately. "I've had better..." she said shrugging, and proceeded with her recognition tour in the beach as her initial plans had been before the cur went all bitchy.
But she refrained with great care and instead remained motionless.
When Aella raised from the pool and turned back to Caiaphas she blinked and a look of polite interest consumed her muzzle. "If it so pleases you, other pools abound." She spoke sweetly, her eyes flush with a false glint of honey -- and a smile threaded her lips with thinly-veiled sincerity.
"how does a man decide in what order to abandon his life?"
but my petals have fallen.
At times, Aella felt like the queen of the world, untouchable, invincible, and that's pretty much how she was feeling at the moment. There was nothing Caiaphas could do to hurt Aella, to defy her even, not without her membership in Ankyra being damaged or permanently abolished. And the crimson warrior loved it, felling like the cur was hers to torture.
The sound of the waves were beautifully pleasing as she moved closer to them, but they were abruptly interrupted by the Neophyte's fake politeness which bugged her ears. The cur wanted to play too, and it would be more fun that way. Thanks, I'll keep that in mind.
she said with a disarming smile, locking eyes with the smaller woman. With that she intended to dismiss the conversation, so she turned away and continued sniffing around, but then she realized she wanted to know more about the hybrid, why did Akatie trust her so much anyway? She turned to the dark woman again, with a sly smile in her graceful face. So... What's your name again?
she asked lifting a brow, I'm curious, Y'know... How did you find Akatie?
she asked as she sat back in her haunches, and her full attention set upon the Neophyte's lips.
"Caiaphas." She supplied subserviently, though there was nothing at all polite about what she was thinking. She rose then -- still being several steps behind Aella. "Aktaie and the Sisters found me. It was ordained by the Gods." While her tone was lackluster, it did not lack conviction -- and with a sweep of her tail she rose to make her departure. With Aella nearby, she could not eat at ease -- and with a curtsy that signaled the end of their terse conversation, Caiaphas struck down the shoreline in search of other more rife shrimp to torture.
"how does a man decide in what order to abandon his life?"
but my petals have fallen.
sorry if this sucks terribly horribly bad... I just wanted to make a last post to archive x_x
Bitch... That's the only word that came to Aella's mind, if that even makes sense. Technically they were both bitches, but, Y'know... She didn't mean it in a good way...
She raised an eyebrow at the cur's response, "the sisters found me" a smile was enough to express her contempt, and she herself, turned around to keep on doing what she initially intended to do when she came down from the clifftop. They would end the conversation later...